hello I am Lee Bowling Program Consultant for Title Four Part A with the Kentucky Department of Education this webinar will assist districts with the stakeholder engagement component of Title Four Part A funds. Communities and family engagement can make a great partnership with your Title Four Part A program. Every Student Succeeds Act requires districts receiving Title Four Part A funds to consult and engage stakeholders in their community and maintain corresponding documentation of meaningful and ongoing communication. Their feedback can help with preparing students for success after graduation. Stakeholders can be unique for each district. They can vary in size depending on the size of the district. Some of the groups that should be included are parents and families, students, district and school-level educators, community-based organizations, private non-public school partners, local business leaders, physical and behavioral health professionals and elected officials. It is important to remember to include your students as part of the group. Their feedback can be very valuable. Some of the reasons the community and family members do not get involved with your district could be: one, time constraints, for example select days and times when people would be able to attend the meeting. Two, travel or distance can be an obstacle for participation. Sometimes stakeholders are not able to travel to the meeting. And three, people can be unsure what is expected of them at the meeting perhaps post the agenda on the district website or attach the agenda to an email invitation. In rural communities stakeholders may need to travel long distances to participate in a face-to-face meetings. So districts should offer different opportunities to engage such as hosting meetings at different locations in the district. For example not always having the meeting at the local high school instead select other venues in the community for some upcoming scheduled meetings. Different times selected for meetings to give all stakeholders the opportunity to attend. Perhaps hold one meeting at 4:00 p.m. and another meeting at 6:00 p.m. on different days also do not forget about the daytime meetings for stay-at-home parents and business people. Maybe hosting a breakfast buddy where students can invite a buddy to breakfast and the school or district can hold a meeting afterwards. In addition to always having a face-to-face meeting consider online meetings, social media platforms, surveys webinars or virtual meetings. It is good to think outside the box in order to have more participation in the stakeholder meetings. If you record the meeting post it on the district homepage for others watch later. For example, advertise your meeting on the district or campus social media pages and other media outlets. It is important to promote the meeting a few weeks in advance also post reminders about the meeting a few times and encourage everyone to save the date. Let stake holders know the meeting will be live streamed on social media. This is an excellent way for parents to be part of the meeting without the worry of transportation or childcare. It also allows stakeholders who may be out of town the opportunity to participate and provide input. In-person meetings should be scheduled far in advance at locations people can easily access. Consider hosting meetings at alternative locations such as community centers, places of worship and/or libraries. It is permissible to have light refreshments at the meeting but not complete dinners or a banquet. Stakeholder activities should actively involve parents, guardians, and families. Districts should use existing family engagement opportunities such as parent-teacher conferences and other school events such as athletic events that would draw many people from the public to the location. If there is a special event scheduled at the school consider having a meeting simultaneously since the public will already be at the school the goal is to encourage as many people as possible to attend the meeting. Also consider providing tutoring services and/or childcare during the meeting that way if parents bring their children they can have tutoring while the meeting is in progress. Try not to have the meeting on the same day at the same time consistently. There should be varied days and times for the meetings also do not forget about daytime meetings for stay-at-home parents and business people. The meeting should never feel like a lecture. It should be informal with an open floor for discussion in which everyone is comfortable participating and brainstorming ideas and suggestions. Please keep the meeting informational and light. Your speakers should be comfortable talking in front of a group. Never let one person dominate the conversation. Give everyone the opportunity to speak. Please do not use acronyms or verbage that would be unfamiliar to the group. It's a good idea to provide an agenda so everyone can see what topics are going to be covered during the meeting. Consider having an opinion written section that allows everyone the opportunity to submit suggestions in writing just in case someone is uncomfortable speaking in front of the group. Also remember your audience. You may need someone who is bilingual at the meeting. Be sure to include students, parents of children with disabilities, as well as English learners, guardians of children in foster care and students affected by homelessness. Please do not overlook your students. All districts should encourage student feedback and student opinion. For example use any information collected from students regarding issues that are affecting them in their classes or at their school. Districts should engage students through in-school opportunities such as student government representatives, student councils, their homeroom, any interactive classes and most especially extracurricular activities. When students are practicing extracurricular activities after school, that is an excellent time to get their feedback on everything from cleanliness of the school to curriculum and school resources. The goal is for students to feel included and know their voice matters when discussing issues that affect their own school or class. This is especially important for middle and high school students when students know their opinion does matter it can help to promote a student's self-esteem. Please remember documentation is extremely important. Districts should have all meetings documented. Acceptable forms of documentation that KDE reviews are: agendas, sign-in sheets and typed meeting minutes. All ongoing communication should always be documented. Keep in mind, only having an agenda for a meeting is not enough documentation to remain in compliance. For example, emailing the meeting minutes to all stakeholder members after the meeting. This will allow all members to review the notes if they were unable to attend. They can still provide feedback via email. There should be updates to suggestions and recommendations made by the committee. If the meeting was not documented correctly it did not happen. It is also a good idea to have a couple of people taking notes during the meeting to be sure all activity and discussions are documented. Please feel free to reach out to us any time we are always here to assist. If you have any questions about stakeholder engagement please reach out to us at KDE.